BlockFrom the record
One of 59 National Register listings published here for Pennington County · listed in 1983 · category: Site · built in 1938.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Harney Peak Lookout Tower, Dam, Pumphouse and Stairway
Built in 1938. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 3 structuress, 1 site as contributing to the listing.
- Address. NE of Custer, Custer, 57745
- When was it listed? March 1983
- Category. site
- Unorganized territory. Mount Rushmore
- When was it built? 1938
- National Register reference number. 83003019 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
225 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 225 fires within 5 miles of Harney Peak Lookout Tower, Dam, Pumphouse and Stairway between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,284 acres in total. 87 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 87 |
| Debris and open burning | 45 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 36 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 21 |
| Fireworks | 12 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 11 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Black Hills National Forest | TIN MILL |
| 9 September 2003 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Black Hills National Forest | GRIZZLY BEAR |
| 6 September 2001 | Natural | under an acre | Mount Rushmore National Memorial | LONE PINE |
| 5 September 2000 | Natural | under an acre | Black Hills National Forest | 385 |
| 5 September 1996 | Natural | under an acre | Black Hills National Forest | MIRACLE |
| 5 September 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Black Hills National Forest | 425 |
| 3 September 2006 | Natural | under an acre | Black Hills National Forest | WILLOW |
| 23 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Black Hills National Forest | PALMER |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 of 166 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 166 workings within 5 miles of Harney Peak Lookout Tower, Dam, Pumphouse and Stairway: 70 past producers, 51 occurrences, 40 prospects, 4 unknowns. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Tin, Feldspar, Tungsten, Mica. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Shot | Feldspar, Beryllium, Mica | Occurrence | Beryl, Feldspar, Mica | |
| Clara Belle | Gold, Tin, Silver | Past Producer | 1886 | |
| Clara Belle | Gold, Tin, Silver | Unknown | ||
| Dan Patch | Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium), Mica | Past Producer | ||
| Dan Patch Group | Feldspar, Mica, Beryllium, Tantalum, Zinc | Past Producer | 1905 | |
| Dewey Mine MS 1699 | Mica, Feldspar, Lithium | Past Producer | ||
| El Dorado | Gold, Tin, Tungsten, Silver | Past Producer | 1890 | |
| El Dorado MS 2014 | Gold, Tungsten, Tin, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| First Find Claim | Tin, Niobium (Columbium) | Prospect | 1890 | |
| First Find Lode | Tin, Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium) | Occurrence | Cassiterite |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Summit Mine Foreman's Cabin | 3.7 miles | 2012 | |
 | Burlington and Quincy High Line Hill City to Keystone Branch | 3.7 miles | 2003 |
 | Mount Rushmore National Memorial | 3.9 miles | 1966 |
| Von Woehrmann Building | 4.9 miles | 1977 | |
 | C. E. McEachron General Merchandise | 5.0 miles | 1994 |
 | Harney Peak Tin Mining Company Buildings | 5.1 miles | 1977 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 83003019 in Record Group 79. |
| Pennington County | All 59 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.